Monday, September 18, 2006

The October issue of The Atlantic Monthly has a great article on the migration of America's educated elite - what they are calling the "means migration."

[The means migration:] The mass relocation of highly skilled, highly educated, and highly paid Americans to a relatively small number of metropolitan regions, and a corresponding exodus of the traditional lower and middle classes from these same places.

Not surprisingly these people are settling in cities coast to coast (blue states...) with a scattering in between, but what threw me off was the density found in CO. Regardless, its most interesting to compare 1970 and 2000. While the National average is 24 college graduates per 100, you see the bulk of the US at 20 below in 2000. Ah America, when are we gonna learn...

Naturally, this is posing problems for companies in these areas when it comes to recruiting top talent. Economics is the motivating factor - ambitious poeple NEED to live in a means metro in order to realize their full economic value. (This makes me think of the Planetarium and the plea to corporations to donate to further Minneapolis' competitive edge in technology and innovation. It all goes back to inspiring a young work force..)

Places that bring together diverse talent accelerate the local rate of economic evolution. When large numbers of entrepreneurs, financiers, engineers, designers, and other smart creative people are constantly bumping into one another inside and outside of work, business ideas are more quickly formed, sharpened, executed, and - if successful - expanded. The more smart people, and the denser the connections between them, the faster it all goes."